Game 33: Brewers at Nats
Jake Irvin and the Nationals hope to remain undefeated against Milwaukee this season, and reverse their struggles at home
The Nationals are back home for the next week, and while that might normally be something to celebrate, that hasn’t really been the case for this team this year. Despite their impressive 12-7 record on the road, the Nats are a measly 3-10 at home to date. Everybody insists there’s no good reason for that, and that things will even out over time. But they need to actually show they can win at home, and soon.
This weekend offers an intriguing matchup against a Brewers team the Nationals swept in Milwaukee a few weeks ago. This is their first repeat matchup of the season, so it will be interesting to see how both sides adjust in hopes of either duplicating or reversing the results from that last series.
The Nats did not see Jacob Misiorowski in that previous series. The hard-throwing right-hander was all the rage in MLB when he debuted last summer before getting hurt and cooling off after that. He’s off to a good start in his sophomore season, though, with a 3.31 ERA and league-leading 51 strikeouts in only 32 2/3 innings.
Jake Irvin did pitch in Milwaukee and battled through a long, three-run first inning before settling in and posting nothing but zeros after that. He’s made steady improvement since and enters this one on the heels of his best start of the season: 5 2/3 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts against the White Sox.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:40 p.m. EDT
TV: Nationals TV, FOX 5 (channel listings)
Radio: 106.7 FM
Weather: Partly cloudy, 64 degrees, wind 11 mph out to left
BREWERS
CF Garrett Mitchell
2B Brice Turang
C William Contreras
1B Jake Bauers
3B Luis Rengifo
DH Tyler Black
RF Sal Frelick
LF Blake Perkins
SS David Hamilton
RHP Jacob Misiorowski
NATIONALS
RF James Wood
DH Luis García Jr.
1B Curtis Mead
SS CJ Abrams
LF Daylen Lile
3B Brady House
2B Jorbit Vivas
C Drew Millas
CF Jacob Young
RHP Jake Irvin
I never like it when Nunez isn’t out there. The defense just runs cleaner with him on the field. When he needs a day off pair it with a strikeout pitcher. With a contact guy he needs to be in the field. Hopefully Viva proves me wrong.
I want the same thing every time the Nats play: some clean defense, a roaring offense and some decent pitching. GO NATS!!